Ante Markovic

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Ante Markovic, Yugoslav businessman and politician (born Nov. 25, 1924, Konjic, Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes [now in Bosnia and Herzegovina]—died Nov. 28, 2011, Zagreb, Croatia), as the last premier (1989–91) of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, failed to prevent the outbreak of violence between the constituent republics and the breakup of the country into separate independent states. Markovic was an ethnic Croat, and after having received a degree in electrical engineering (1954) from the University of Zagreb, he remained in that Croatian city, where he was a director (1961–86) of the Rade Koncar industrial works. He joined the Communist Party at a young age and served as Croatia’s reform-minded prime minister (1982–86) and president (1986–88). As the federal premier, Markovic liberalized foreign trade and instituted austerity reforms that reduced both inflation and unemployment. His attempted political reforms, however, notably his call for a directly elected federal parliament, were undermined by ethnic and interrepublic conflicts as well as his rivalry with Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic.